Malibu Media Maelstrom Ensues as Paparazzi Dominate News Coverage

• Mainstream Press Legitimizes Edited Video without Investigating Photographers’ Allegations

BY ANNE SOBLE

During a weekend when record-breaking temperatures dominated the news, two Malibu beach brawls made headlines around the world and have many locals scratching their heads and wondering whether the hot weather may have been affecting the media.
Residents have been voicing concern that an erroneous picture of an event has now been repeated so many times by so many media that it has assumed a life of its own. They say this, while in no way condoning what may be construed to be unseemly behavior by people who live here.
Basically the facts for anyone who has had no electronic contact with the world in the last six days is that rowdy donnybrooks occurred on Point Dume beaches on Saturday and Sunday.
The melees have been dubbed by celebrity websites as clashes between “the paparazzi” and “the surfers.” That these sites might favor the paparazzi could have something to do with their dependence on them for content.
The incidents, the first of which ostensibly erupted as actor Matthew McConaughey was surfing off Little Dume, are alleged to have resulted in one broken nose and camera gear damages estimated at over $10,000.
Videos of the skirmishes have been replayed endlessly on these websites and have either been given or sold to nearly every major media outlet, most of which appear to use them without questioning their authenticity.
The Little Dume video appears edited to slur locals who sought to evict the paparazzi from the dry sand at the beach. There has been little play of some photographers doing the filming reportedly urging their comrades to “keep going” as “this is good stuff.”
Some locals are asking whether the paparazzi, knowing that their aggressive behavior has been in the news lately, decided to take the makings of a tense situation and spin them to their advantage.
Several of the people at the beach, a mix of Point Dume residents and visitors, many of whom would hardly fit the notion of the stereotypical surfer, currently decline attribution because there is concern about litigation against individuals and the property owners association that has the private beach easement where the first brawl took place.
The Riviera II Property Owners Association, one of the groups that oversee the beach key access to Little Dume Beach, held a closed meeting Monday night to address some of the legal issues that might have been raised.
A number of the citizens who were involved in the clashes are in the process of filing police reports of their own. At least one of them, a lifelong Malibuite, has brought local attorney Michael Schwimer on board to begin to address what they say is an imbalance in the outside media’s coverage of the event.
Schwimer said, “The real story is still coming out. The rest of the media have taken the paparazzi’s spoon-fed story and run with it. They have done no investigations of what happened.”
He acknowledges that some of the group called the surfers, who should more accurately be described as a group of beachgoers, “may have been pushed so hard that they pushed back.” But he is adamant that “the video is so heavily edited to mischaracterize the situation and portray the Malibu residents as aggressors, when in fact it was the opposite.”
Schwimer said it is damning that mainstream media would take “obviously edited” video “at face value,” even “picking up the same inaccurate labels of paparazzi and surfers” as used by the celebrity websites. The terms repeatedly appear in print headlines and broadcast references.
The Malibu Surfside News has received undisclosed information that a knife was drawn by a paparazzo. A report that one of the residents at the scene had a wound that required five stitches has been confirmed. And tripods were recorded being used as weapons.
The team of investigators from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station has been trying to obtain copies of the original videotapes but has been unsuccessful.
Schwimer says what was happening at both beach locations is “a public safety issue.” He says the state paparazzi legislation that is on the books should be enforced, adding that an emphasis on “disturbing the peace and public nuisance” is imperative.
The attorney said he is beginning to question whether there was “an element of purposefulness” in the Little Dume fracas, as “facts suggest an effort to capitalize” on the situation by filming it.
Schwimer said there are currently several Web postings about “another round” to take place at the beach on Saturday, June 28. “There appears to be a real intention to promote violence.”
He added that some of the photographers from the incident have reportedly obtained the telephone numbers of some of the beachgoers and have begun to make “threatening phone calls.”
Mainstream media scorn the paparazzi and differentiate them from professional journalists. Their coverage of the Malibu beach brouhahas demonstrate that the line between them is blurring.
As for McConaughey, he continued to surf unaware of what was happening the first day until he learned about it later. He also hit the waves the next day, albeit some distance from the second clash at Paradise Cove.
His publicist Alan Nierob said the incidents will not dissuade the actor from surfing, and “he will continue to enjoy the beautiful Malibu coastline.”

Point Dume Beach Confrontations Have Deputies on Alert

By Hans Laetz

Sheriff’s deputies are keeping a low profile watch on Little Dume Beach, where photographers shooting images of a surfing Matthew McConaughey say they were attacked by a group of beachgoers and surfers in the first of two brawls that were the weekend’s hot media topic.
The actor’s beach outing on Saturday drew a dozen paparazzi, who were soon in a fracas with some 15 persons who are now known worldwide as the “surfers.”
In addition, Sheriff’s spokesperson Steve Whitmore said the department has a “summer beach team’’ that puts extra deputies on duty from Zuma to Topanga beaches, and those deputies are minutes away if any more problems erupt at Little Dume.
But the nearest road access for deputies is nearly a mile away from the area where the fights occurred, other deputies noted, making it hard to patrol.
Malibu Mayor Pamela Conley Ulich said confrontations between photographers and surfers Saturday and Sunday come at a time when Malibu’s 13,000 residents feel endangered by “an increasingly reckless disregard for public safety for themselves and others, being exhibited by the paparazzi.’’
Conley Ulich said she has seen videotapes of the fights, but would not comment on them while sheriff’s deputies investigate assault-and-battery complaints filed by several paparazzi.
Whitmore said investigators want to view unedited video footage of the confrontations to sort out the charges and countercharges. The sheriff’s department hopes to obtain unedited copies this week.
Apparently edited videotapes posted by two celebrity web sites show surfers accosting several photographers as they demand that paparazzi stakeouts cease. “Nobody that lives here wants you here,’’ one surfer yelled Saturday, as others pushed paparazzi and blocked their sightlines to the surfing actor.
A photographer’s nose was reportedly broken in that fight, and a second man was kicked and dragged into the surf by two men in bathing suits. At least two cameras were smashed or drenched in the Saturday incident. Destroyed equipment estimates were over $10,000.
However, several of the surfers allege that the tapes do not show a paparazzo threatening one of the surfers with a knife and other aggressive behavior. They have filed their own sheriff’s reports and are expected to make press statements this week that counter some of the photographers’ charges.
Little Dume Cove is famous for its surf break and traditionally has been guarded by locals as a surf spot. Although ownership of the dry sand at Little Dume is claimed by a property owners association that prohibits trespassing, that claim is challenged by beach access advocates. Sand below the high tide line is public property and open to anyone, according to state law.
On Sunday at about 5 p.m, another brawl broke out on the sand at Paradise Cove. Video of the second set of fights was posted on two celebrity web sites that either had photographers on the beach or bought tape.
The Sunday videos, also apparently edited, show a group of photographers walking past a group of beachgoers and surfers at Paradise Cove Beach. Taunts are exchanged, and an object reported to be a beer bottle is seen being thrown from the group, nearly hitting a paparazzo.
Photographers are heard issuing threats of their own, as they walk in wet sand past the group of lounging young people and their surfboards. Sheriff’s deputies are seen in the video arriving at the Paradise Cove parking lot, and driving off with two photographers who wanted to file police reports.
Whitmore said the paparazzi were on public beach sand, although witnesses at the Little Dume Cove incident dispute this. Persons in public, such as at a beach, generally do not have a legal expectation of privacy, but there are exceptions that are being explored by the detectives in this case.

Malibu Man Found Dead in Las Flores Park

• Determination of Cause of Death Awaits Results of Toxicology Tests

BY ROBBY MAZZA

Three tarps hang on the white fence that borders Las Flores Park, concealing the body of Malibu resident Christopher Scott Quint that was discovered Tuesday morning.
Quint, 39, attired in a short-sleeved black T-shirt and jeans, was found lying on the ground on his back.
Deputy Eric Hoffman of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station told the Malibu Surfside News that Quint’s body was discovered at 8:30 a.m. on the jogging path just inside the fence, by a person who was walking his dog.
Hoffman said another witness working in a nearby building indicated he had heard “snoring” in the vicinity at about 4 a.m. “[The witness] thought it might be a homeless person,” Hoffman added. “He can’t identify if it was him, but it was most likely him.”
Paramedics on the scene reportedly checked Quint’s pockets and found no identification. The coroner established his identity Wednesday morning.
Determination of the cause of death was not possible at the scene. Hoffman indicated there were no visible signs of trauma, but he noted that homicide was not being formally ruled out.
The deputy reported there were no visible signs of needle use, but added that the county coroner’s office will test for alcohol and drugs, as well as any indication of whether “a medical issue” was involved in Quint’s death.
An autopsy was scheduled to be performed on Wednesday, but any official determination of the cause of death may be being deferred pending the results of a toxicology report, which could take from six to eight weeks.

Secretary of the Interior Inspects Wildfire Reduction Projects in Malibu

On Wednesday, June 11, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will visit Malibu and other locations in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to review hazardous fuels reduction projects.
The tour of the SMMNRA spotlights work being done by the National Park Service under the National Fire Plan to reduce brush, dead trees and other wildfire fuel in order to help protect communities such as Malibu that are interwoven with federal land holdings from catastrophic wildfire.
Agencies with large public parkland acreage have been criticized by citizen groups and local government officials for not taking a proactive stance on fuel load reduction, thereby imperiling neighboring private property owners and making the job of fighting wildland fires more difficult and more dangerous.
Kempthorne will visit Los Angeles County Fire Department Camp 8 in the Malibu mountains, where he will inspect the recent burn site and meet with members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and other agencies.

Planning Commission Says No to Ban on Pot Pharmacies

• Majority of Panelists Recommend Allowing Three Facilities with Tight Restrictions •

BY BILL KOENEKER

New members of the Malibu Planning Commission took their seats Tuesday night, and the panelists quickly got down to business. On a 3-2 vote with Commissioners Ed Gillespie and Regan Schaar dissenting, the commission recommended allowing three medical marijuana dispensaries in Malibu, but with tight restrictions and regulations.
The panel heard from numerous individuals who described their medical problems and how marijuana provided relief.
Newly appointed Commissioner Jeff Jennings said he would support a regulatory approach, but with provisions that there be no on-site consumption of the drug. “I would not support only one dispensary. We do not want to create a monopoly,” he said.
Chair Joan House, who had just been tapped by the panelists for the top position, said she questioned eight doctors in her family about the legitimacy of medical marijuana. “Everyone of them supported it. It is too bad the federal government has not come into line. If I had my preference, you would go to a pharmacy,” said House, who was adamant that no more than three dispensaries be allowed in the city.
Newly installed Commissioner John Mazza said he believes that since the drug is taxed, it should be regulated. “The taxes are important. I am for regulation rather than a ban. We can ban smoking on the premises,” he said. Mazza was referring to earlier testimony that the state Board of Equalization taxes the sale of marijuana since it is not a prescription drug. Panelists were also told patients obtain their quota as determined by a physician.
However, Schaar said she had earlier in the day checked out the operations of one of Malibu’s pot pharmacies where she allegedly witnessed children entering the premises, saw that nearby offices were smoky, and there seemed to be no oversight.
“I took my children to play a new video game. The moms went into another room. It filled up with smoke from the medical marijuana dispensary. This room was filled with children. It made me sick to my stomach. The kids came into the dispensary. There was blatant abuse. One of the tenants said they called the sheriff, but was told there was nothing they could do,” she said. “It has made me feel completely differently than I did this morning.”
Newly appointed Commissioner Ed Gillespie said that while his “heart goes out to people who need this medication,” he does not believe that Malibu is the place for pot dispensaries. “We are way over our heads on this one. It bothers me. No matter how you slice it, it is against federal law,” he said.
Commissioners consulted with a deputy sheriff and an advocate about the status of a drug that was legalized by the voters of the state for medical purposes, but marijuana is still considered a controlled substance by the feds. An attorney representing one of the dispensaries told the panel that the establishment had 1000 customers with a 90265 address.
Mazza initially made a motion to recommend to the city council that it approve a zone text amendment to the city’s zoning codes to conditionally permit medical marijuana dispensaries in specific commercial zones.
Jennings successfully sought a number of amendments to the motion that were accepted by Mazza, who could not get a third vote after House balked when he tried to get the majority to limit the number of dispensaries to five. House said she would only support three. When Mazza’s motion failed on a 2-3 vote, House made her own motion, including the same resolution with the limit of three, that motion was approved on a 3-2 vote.
The new law, if approved by the council, would establish a permit requirement with location restrictions, such as no pot pharmacies within a 500-foot radius of a church, temple, playground, park, day care or school.
Other requirements would address security and lighting, hours of operation, limits on how much cash can be kept on premises, curbs on purchasers under 18, and operators having to undergo a complete criminal background check